Child Welfare/Child Protective Services

Seeks more efficient delivery of services to victims by improving the
collaboration of local multidisciplinary teams that investigate child
abuse and maltreatment. The law expands team membership, clarifies
member participation, and encourages joint interviews of child victims
to minimize trauma. Clarifies the types of cases that a team may
investigate by replacing the current generic reference to “cases
involving serious abuse of children” with language that references
the Family Court Act definition of an abused child, and specifically
adds cases involving sexual abuse or the death of a child.

Expands the list of professionals required to report suspected child
abuse or maltreatment to include “all persons credentialed by the
office of alcoholism and substance abuse services.” Substance
abuse counselors and alcoholism counselors are already mandated
reporters. The new law includes more recent credentials offered by the
Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, including, prevention
professional and prevention specialist.

Provides child protective services personnel with access to the criminal
history records of individuals named in a report of suspected child
abuse or individuals living in the home of a child suspected of being
abused or maltreated. The law authorizes access for a local child
protective agency manager or a person with law enforcement background
that is designated by the local social services commissioner. If a
conviction record is found in the NYS Division of Criminal Justice
Services’ criminal history records, the new law specifies that
child protective services “shall not indicate a report”
solely on the basis of such conviction.

Allows local social services districts, with approval from the NYS
Office of Children and Family Services, to establish a differential
response program for reported cases of child abuse or maltreatment. In
addition to the traditional “investigation” option, a
district can create an assessment and services track. The law requires
OCFS to consult with OPDV in developing criteria for case eligibility
and for local district participation.

Expands the duty of social services workers to report to the State
Central Registry any case where there is reasonable cause to believe
that a child has been abused or maltreated, based on personal knowledge
facts, conditions or circumstances reported to them by third
parties.

Signed: 2007 Chapter 513

Effective: October 15, 2007

Amends: Social Services Law §413(1)

Child Advocacy Centers
(S.7644-B Meier/A.11188-A Scarborough)

Directs the NYS Office of Children and Family Services to facilitate
the establishment of Child Advocacy Centers to serve child victims of
sexual assault and serious physical abuse. New programs and centers that
already exist will be required to maintain a standard protocol to
provide appropriate services and minimize trauma to the child and the
family. This protocol includes, but is not limited to, a private
setting, a multidisciplinary investigative team, victim support and
advocacy, a written set of inter-agency protocols, availability of
specialized medical evaluation and treatment, and a comprehensive
tracking system.

Expands the scope of local and regional fatality review teams to
include the deaths of children for whom there is an open child
protective or child preventive services case. Also allows a review team
to expand its review to all unexplained or unexpected deaths of children
under the age of 18. Requires any autopsy or toxicology report to be
released within thirty days of a child’s death. Enlarges the
composition of local and regional fatality review teams, provides access
to records and subpoena power, provides review team members with
immunity from civil and criminal liability, maintains confidentiality of
information obtained by the teams, and provides for the sharing of any
annual report or fatality report released by a review team.

Signed: 2006 Chapter 485

Effective: December 14, 2006

Amends: Social Services Law §§422-b; 418; 20(5)(a)

NY County Law §677(8)

Termination of Parental Rights
(S.5392-B Meier/A.11582-B Rivera)

Expands the grounds on which parental rights can be terminated. In
addition to the current grounds of homicide/attempted homicide of
another child of the parent, the new law adds any child for whom the
defendant is/was legally responsible. The new law also includes
homicide/attempted homicide of the other parent of the child, unless
committed by a victim of domestic violence and the violence was a
contributing factor to the crime.

Signed: 2006 Chapter 460

Effective: November 14, 2006

Amends: Social Services Law §384-b(3)(1)(i) and (3)(1)(v)

Educational Neglect
(S.8183 Meier/A.11571-A Scarborough)

Requires the NYS Office of Children and Families, in conjunction with
the NYS Education Department, to develop model practices and procedures
for the reporting and investigation of educational neglect by local
social services districts and local school districts. These model
protocols must be developed and posted to the websites of both agencies
by September 1, 2007. By January 1, 2008, each local social services
district and local school district must submit their proposed policies
and procedures to OCFS. OCFS will have sixty days to approve or
disapprove.

Requires local child protective services (CPS) to refer reports of
physical injury or sexual abuse of a child, or the death of a child, to
appropriate local law enforcement. Investigations are to be conducted by
an approved multi-disciplinary investigative team, or jointly with local
law enforcement, where a county does not have an approved
multidisciplinary team. Counties that have an approved protocol between
CPS and local law enforcement on joint investigations of child abuse and
maltreatment are exempt. Provides for cases where the report is made by
a mandated reporter, within six months of two prior reports to the State
Central Registry involving the same child, a sibling, other children in
the household or the subject of the report. Requires the state central
registry to transfer prior reports to local child protective
services.

Establishes a required annual six hours of training for child
protective staff, including information on the investigation of child
abuse and maltreatment and current developments in the areas of legal,
treatment and prevention issues. Establishes minimum qualifications for
supervisors of child protective services, to include a baccalaureate
degree and three years experience in a human services field. Requires
all child protective supervisors to complete a course in the
fundamentals of child protection, including effective investigation,
case planning and management, cultural competency and effective
supervisory skills. An annual in-service training program is also
mandated for supervisors.

Requires the district attorney to notify the local child protective
services agency when an individual is convicted of a crime against a
child, including assault, menacing, reckless endangerment, stalking, sex
offenses, endangering the welfare of a child, sexual performance by a
child, abandonment, and non-support.

Signed: 2006 Chapter 647

Effective: September 13, 2006

Amends: Criminal Procedure Law §440.65

Mandated Reporter Records
(A.7225-A Scarborough/S.5805 Meir)

Enacts substantial change to permanency and adoption provisions in
several areas of law. Includes a provision that requires mandated
reporters whose reports initiate an investigation of child abuse or
maltreatment to comply with all Child Protective Service (CPS) requests
for records relating to the report.*

*The Office of Children and Family Services clarified that this
refers only to information that directly pertains to the report itself
and that the mandated reporter to whom the request is directed makes the
determination of what information is essential. If the report is based
on information disclosed by a parent not alleged to be the subject and
the mandated reporter (i.e., mental health therapist or domestic
violence service provider) only has additional information concerning
the non-offending parent, the provision would not apply. If CPS believes
that the mandated reporter has additional essential information
pertaining to the report, CPS must ask the mandated reporter for the
additional records and attempt to come to agreement regarding any
additional records. If CPS and the mandated reporter cannot come to
agreement over the relevance of the report, CPS may seek a court
order.

Requires the Division of Criminal Justice Services to offer assistance to
local governments and law enforcement agencies that are not currently
participating in a missing child prompt response and notification plan
(i.e., "Amber Alert") to ensure that every jurisdiction in New
York State is implementing and operating such a plan.

Requires all current and new child protective service workers to be
trained on domestic violence issues. The training, to be developed by
OPDV in conjunction with state Office of Children and Family Services,
will address the dynamics of domestic violence and its connection to
child abuse and neglect. Training will cover: psychological harm
experienced by children, the trauma associated with foster care
placement, barriers facing immigrant women, the child welfare and court
systems' response to the abusing partner and remedies available to the
victim.

Signed: 2002 Chapter 280

Effective: December 4, 2002

Amends: Social Services Law §17(g)

Unfounded Child Abuse Reports
(A.1213-E Brodsky/S.1469-E Spano)

Provides that any legally sealed unfounded report of child abuse and
maltreatment shall be expunged when the report is found to have
constituted the crime of falsely reporting an incident in the second
degree, or was an error by clear and convincing evidence.

Signed: 2000 Chapter 555

Effective: November 1, 2000 – Applied to reports of child abuse and
maltreatment made on or after February 12, 1996

Amends: Social Services Law §422(5)

Child Fatality Review Teams
(A.8455-A Green/S.5689-A Saland)

This bill brings the state into compliance with the Federal Child
Abuse Protection and Treatment Act amendments of 1996. Requires
court-ordered child abuse investigations to be conducted by interagency,
multi-disciplinary teams. Team members are required to develop written
protocol for investigating cases and interviewing victims. Establishes
local and regional fatality review teams, under the auspices of the
state Office of Children and Family Services, to investigate the death
of any child whose care has been transferred to an authorized agency or
whose case has been reported to the child abuse State Central Registry.
Establishes local citizen review panels to review the effectiveness of
child protective investigations. Sets forth the authority of the panels
and specifies information that must be reviewed and reported, including
recommendations, to the legislature, the governor, the Office of
Children and Family Services and local agencies.

Conforms New York State law to the federal Adoption and Safe Families
Act regarding foster care and adoption procedures, timetables, etc.
Includes two provisions for domestic violence cases: 1) courts must
consider the presence of domestic violence in the home when determining
if the need to place a child would be eliminated by an order of
protection removing the abuser from the home, and 2) requires the Office
of Children and Family Services to study the extent to which domestic
violence victims have their children removed as a result of the abuser's
conduct.